Claire LEROY (FRA) commented about her team’s boat speed and how well they adjusted to the new boats, “Yes we were also surprised, it was good! I like the boats they are like a 470 and I can touch a lot of ropes, which I like!”

The top-ranked New Zealand crew helmed by Jessica SMYTH was also happy with her teams performance today, “Four wins and one loss, in very shifty and patchy conditions, with tough competitors – yeah we had a good day!”

“We had no penalties – we raced clean and picked a couple of glamour shifts,” said SMYTH. “And a couple of not so glamour shifts” – quickly added bowman Anna DE FLUITER!

A great day by another Kiwi Jan DAWSON and her team, who only lost to LEROY, “We figure getting beaten by the world #1 is OK. We like these conditions because the old ladies don’t have to hike”.

DAWSON finally summed up her day as “relaxed” which was obviously a winning formula.

Following on with three wins are three Australia teams; Katie SPITHILL, Sam BOYD and last year’s winner Nicky SOUTER.

It was a slow start to day one with light, shifty conditions and the race management lead by Judy SALTHOUSE worked extremely hard to get the five flights completed.

Racing is scheduled to start on time at 10:00 tomorrow morning with flight six of Round Robin One.

The top two New Zealand teams from this regatta will receive invitations to compete in the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championships to be held by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron from 1-6 April 2008.

Results - click here 
New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championship - www.rnzys.org.nz  
ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship - www.sailing.org/wmatchworlds